Are Hand Sanitizers Harmful?

Hand sanitizers can have their place when we simply don’t have access to a Plan A, but we should always go for plan B first. Alcohol doesn’t discriminate good microbes from bad ones, so when we use powerful products like these, we strip our skin of all microbes both good and bad. We also simply don’t know the long-term implications of using such strong ingredients, which are absorbed through our skin multiple times a day!

I have a toddler at home and It almost impossible to stop him from touching EVERYTHING but I don’t like using hand sanitisers on him as he puts his fingers straight in his mouth – so I carry with me a few wet flannels with castile soap and a bottle of water with castile soap mixed in for outdoor activities like the park so I have a mobile hand wash station. I also put a few toys in a basin of water with soap as soon as we enter the house- so we he looks for the toys in the water while getting a good hand wash!

A few products have been recalled that contain methanol, which can be toxic when absorbed through the skin and deadly if swallowed- so take a look at what you are using on a daily basis and see how you can upgrade it to a more natural choice.

Washing hands is key, as you arrive anywhere and before you leave a number of studies have confirmed washing your hands properly with soap and water is just as effective as potentially harmful sanitisers.